Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic ArtHyde, Walter Woodburn
History
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Hyde, Walter Woodburn
Olympics; Sculpture, Greek; Sports -- Greece
When we come to a consideration of the lower part of each face, we
immediately detect differences. While both faces end in an oval, this
is broader, heavier, and more bony in that of the _Philandridas_, as we
should expect in the case of a more mature man. Consequently here the
mouth is larger and firmer. The elegant contour of the lips observable
in the _Agias_ is also found, to a less degree, in the head from
Sparta, whose lips are fuller and more sensuous, but can not be traced
in the _Philandridas_ owing to the damaged condition of the mouth.
It is clear, however, that the lips of the latter were also slightly
parted, just showing the teeth, but not as in the Tegea heads, as if
the breath were being forced through them with great effort.
It is, however, in the expression of these two faces that we see the
greatest resemblance. In the _Philandridas_, the powerful framing of
the eyes, the slightly upward gaze of the balls, and the contracted
forehead combine to give it a pensive, even melancholy, look of
dignity, a look seemingly of one who takes no joy or pleasure in
victory, though, as we have already mentioned,[2163] it is earnest
rather than mournful. The almost identical treatment of the eye and its
surroundings gives the still more youthful head from Sparta a similar
expression. Homolle’s analysis of the expression of the face of the
_Agias_ would apply with equal fitness to the mood portrayed in both
the heads we are discussing: “_L’expression qui résulte de ces divers
traits, c’est, dans une figure jeune et vigoureuse, un air pensif ou
lassé, une certaine mélancolie, qui ne va pas à la tristesse morne ou
à la méditation profonde, mais qui reste plus loin encore de la joie
insouciante de la vie et de la pure allégresse de la victoire_”.[2164]
Preuner remarked that a verse of the epigram found on the base of the
statue of Agias, which runs καὶ σῶν οὐδείς πω στῆσε τροπαῖα χερῶν, is
almost an exact copy of the words of Herakles in the _Trachiniae_ of
Sophocles.[2165] In these words the dedicator of the statue ends the
recital of his ancestor’s exploits with a melancholy reflection on the
vanity of his glory. They suggest with no less truth the expression of
both the heads we are discussing. This expression of pensiveness tinged
with melancholy is enhanced in both by the slightly parted lips. We can
see the same expression carried much further in many of the portraits
of Alexander which go back to originals by Lysippos, and we know from
Plutarch that this sculptor was chosen by the conqueror to make his
portraits, because Lysippos alone could combine his manly air with
the liquid and melting glance of his eyes.[2166] But how different is
the delicately indicated pathos of these heads from the violent and
unrestrained, even panting, expression of the Tegea sculptures! Here
there is no trace of the μανία which Kallistratos said characterized
the works of Skopas. If it be objected that the expression of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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